Helium Comedy club presents the Philly’s Phuniest Person contest. I am among the 150 comics competing this year. Winner is decided by audience vote so I need some people to show up. Tickets are $10 but I can get discounts. Here are the details.
Aug 8th - 8:00 P.M
2023 Sansom St
Philadelphia
A happy birthday to America, myself, Tori Amos, and anyone else I missed.
The past 2 months I haven’t accomplished much. I’m currently working full-time and doing some web design work to save up money to walk again in the fall. I haven’t performed stand-up yet this year. I continue to write but anytime I’ve been at a place I could perform I just had no desire to do so. At one place I was called to the stage expectedly. I went into the place with no intent to do stand-up, and instead of performing I just walked out of the place.
I haven’t been thinking much about walking much but I still plan to return to Texas in fall. This time I will be accompanied by film maker friends. I have already started to plan the structure of the film but don’t have the computer power to edit everything.
I’m looking for animators, artists, musicians, comedians, actors, anyone who wants to be apart of the film!
\*R.I.P George Carlin, one of my biggest influences to do comedy.
Today marks the one year aniversary of starting my walk across America. At this time a year ago I was fresh off the boat from New York and had just arrived in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. I followed the coast south and walked 22 miles through sand that day. As night approached I found myself in Asbury Park. I walk through the dark until I find an area I’m comfortable in and sleep on the beach under the boardwalk.
The next morning I awake to early morning joggers stomping above me. I watch the sunrise, dip my toe into the ocean and start walking West.
Since that point I’ve walked more than halfway across America. Now I have 2 choices. I can go back in a week or 2, walk for a while by myself and then meet up with friends once they’ve finished the semester. The downside to this is that I’ll be walking through the desert in the middle of summer.
My other option is to wait till the fall when it will be cooler, and I can definitely have someone accompany me for the remainder of the journey. This will give me time to work this summer and save up some money towards walking.
It’s getting to be really nice out and I hate that I’m not walking right now, but am equally glad that I’m not walking alone through the desert.
Somebody Help Me!
Anyone who believed the last post is now aware of the date I posted on.
The remainder of my journey is a 1,200 mile walk through some of the most hazardous terrain in the United States. Deserts stretch for hundreds of miles with small towns in between. I never intended to travel by myself, especially through this area of America.
Originally a guy I met on the road was going to accompany me with a rental car to get me through the worst parts of the desert. The problem with that was that he wanted to get paid, and I don’t have the money to pay him. I barely can cover the cost for me to survive.
I’m at a stand-still right now. I have friends who would like to help me but they are in school until the middle of May. If I wait that long I will be walking through Arizona desert in July. Another friend said he would come with me if I went in the fall.
I am trying to figure out how far I can make it on my own before I will really need accompanyment. I have about 75 miles left in Texas, and then I’ll be in New Mexico where the towns get farther and farther apart. There are a few couchsurfers along the way, but they are very spread out, and I don’t feel comfortable asking someone to drive 200 miles to pick me up.
I am working on animations for the movie, and I’m considering cutting a trailer together to create some hype.
Anyone who wants to help me or has any ideas on how I can complete the last 1,200 miles of my walk should email me at danknabb@danknabb.com
Here is a sketch I did of the woman who’s life i saved in the poconos:
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I am back on the road again, I took a plane to Kansas City, MO last week, where I met up with my friend Lucas. We took a rental car from there provided by the very friendly people over at Enterprise and drove it down to Lubbock, Texas where I left off. In the past 5 days I’ve gone almost 100 miles, and I am now close to Carlsbad, New Mexico where Lucas and I are couchsurfing with a park ranger. Tomorrow he will show us around the Carlsbad caverns where millions of bats sleep and leave every night to hunt.
New Mexico is fairly boring. The landscape is desert and mountains. Towns are small and very far apart. I’m thankful to have Lucas escort me during this most treacherous stretch. I surely couldn’t do it alone. My cellphone has little to no reception out here so I’d like to take this opportunity to say hello to anyone out there I haven’t been able to call.
Just returned back to Philadelphia from Chicago, I was visiting my brother for his birthday. I plan to leave sometime in March. Hopefully with a car and someone to drive the car.
Here’s a video i scrapped together:
It looks as though my journey is complete. I managed to walk farther than I thought I would go. I just don’t have the will or the funding to continue any farther.
Actually I should get back on the road sometime in early March. I don’t want to walk much in the cold, but I also don’t want to wait too long and risk walking through desert in summer. The good news is that when I go back I will have company. A friend I met through couchsurfing, named Lucas, will be accompanying me with a vehicle for what should be the remainder of the trip. I have something like 1,200 more miles to go before reaching the Pacific Ocean. I am very excited about having a partner. Having a car means that I will always have food, water, and a place to sleep. This is especially useful now that I have mountains and desert the rest of the way. This also opens up the availablity for another person to come if anyone is interested email me.
I am also being sponsored by couchsurfing now, which means that I shouldn’t have any trouble finding places the sleep the rest of the way. They are going to cover my story, in exchange for good mention of the project in my documentary.
Gas is expensive so if you haven’t donated yet and you’re reading this send $$$ via paypal.com to danknabb@danknabb.com
And maybe I’ll post more footage.
Here is a music video made from footage I’ve taken over the past 2 months. More updates soon.
I’m back in Pennsylvania enjoying some time off for the holidays. I’ve been working with some of the footage I have from the past two months. Here is a clip of a guy who offered me a ride just outside of Cuba, Missouri.
I will also post a music video I’ve been working on that will act as a visual accompaniment to some of my latest blog entries. I’ve also had a few news articles written about my trip that I can now scan and post in a new section of the site.
It’s good to be home but I am eager to get back so that I can finish.
After a 12 hour bus ride I am now in Austin, Texas. I did stand-up last night in a comedy club for the first time since St Louis. I will be here until Wednesday, and then I’ll be flying back to Philadelphia. I walked to Lubbock, before deciding that it was time for a break. It has stayed fairly warm for me with highs in the 60’s and 70’s, but winter is just starting to hit Texas. I’ve been in winter denial as I’ve travelled south. The weather stays mild, while there is snow and freezing rain in the Philadelphia area.
My experience walking across Texas has been pretty boring despite run ins with rattlesnakes, coyotes, and wild hogs. The landscape through the panhandle is a mixture of farm land and desert, with small towns on average about 25 miles apart.
There were two towns that were 43 miles apart with absolutely nothing in between. I ended up camping under a bridge (the whiteman’s teepee), where I was kept awake during the night by howling coyotes. I only carried enough water for one day knowing that I would be at a stream where I could filter water. After drinking most of my clean water, I filtered some stream water which turned out to be salt water. I left that day with one 20 ounce bottle of water. When I got to walking I signaled cars by shaking an empty water bottle. The road was very lightly trafficked with pick up trucks driving by only once every 20 to 30 minutes. One guy stopped and gave me a large fountain drink, another guy who was drinking and driving offered me a beer. I hit the jackpot when one guy stopped and said, “I have a cooler in the back, reach in and take 5 or 6 waters.”
I also walked my second farthest distance on this whole walk last Tuesday, when I went 32 miles between the towns of Paducah and Matador. I started before sunrise and walked 2 hours after sundown only stopping once for 20 minutes in between. The farthest I walked in one day was my second day of walking through New Jersey when I went 34 miles.
Other notable adventures since my last post include: throwing a spear at a buffalo, kicking an armadillo, partying with white supremacists, and finding hundreds of firecrackers on the side of the road.
I’m not sure how long I’ll end up staying in Pennsylvania. The prospect of camping in New Mexico desert or mountains in the middle of the winter doesn’t make me want to continue without some kind of support. I have gone 2,000 miles on my own and now is when I really need someone to help me continue.
I have 12 hours of footage that I will sort through and put out another short video. Check back here for updates!
